Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Theme-park face

I
have a theme-park face. That is, a face
I seem to pull on certain so-called thrill rides at theme parks.

I
only discovered this after I'd had my photo taken several times on these
various attractions, and when viewing the results on the screens in the little
booths, I realised I was pulling the same face in each.

I'll
try to describe it - it's a rictus grin, I look like I'm trying to smile, but
my teeth are gritted and you can see in my eyes that I'm actually terrified,
but I'm putting a brave face on it.

Well,
that's the face I've been wearing for a good part of 2016.

This
year's rollercoaster ride shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it's speeding up, the highs and lows
are getting greater, and now my knuckles have turned white from gripping onto
the safety bar and my jaw is aching.

Way
back in April, when the prospect of a Trump Presidency seemed like a very
distant possibility, I wrote about an article I'd read with the terrifying
headline "A Trump Presidency rated among the top ten global risks". The Economist Intelligence Unit reckoned that
Donald having the keys to the White House was riskier than Britain leaving the
European Union.

I
remember listening to Jeremy Vine on Radio2 while I was in the dental hygienist's
chair about a month ago, and he was saying that he didn't think Trump would be
elected, but then he didn't think Britain would leave the EU either. And it was at that point I thought to myself,
'What if Hillary doesn't win?'

Why
didn't people vote for Mrs Clinton - would it be like Cherie Blair standing for
Prime Minister here, are the Clintons really that unpopular in the USA?

Much
like after the EU referendum, we are at the stage where we have to accept the
result and work with what we have. Has
anybody got a paddle?